Movie

Breaking Away

1979 · 101 min

A warm, funny, and quietly moving ride through small-town dreams and underdog grit, with a big heart and a thrilling finish.

Directed by: Peter Yates
Genres: Drama, Comedy
Starring: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern

Tagline: The movie that tells you exactly what you can do with your high school diploma!
Overview: Dave, nineteen, has just graduated high school, with his three friends: the comical Cyril, the warm hearted but short-tempered Moocher, and the athletic, spiteful but good-hearted Mike. Now, Dave enjoys racing bikes and hopes to race the Italians one day, and even takes up the Italian culture, much to his friends' and parents' annoyance.

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Directed by: Peter Yates
Genres: Drama, Comedy
Starring: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern

In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: warmstrength 3 of 3
upliftingstrength 2 of 3
earneststrength 2 of 3
lightstrength 2 of 3
Pacing: measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: coming-of-age
class
family
friendship
identity
Places: small town
school
Era: contemporary
Audience: teen
Form: ensemble
Content intensity: Gore none
Language mild
Violence mild
Sex mild

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	5
Horror	0
Humour	6
Realism	8
Romance	4
Tension	4
Darkness	2
Complexity	4
Emotional weight	6

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Where to watch in the UK

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Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres: drama, comedy
Directed by: Peter Yates
Written by: Steve Tesich
Starring: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earle Haley, Barbara Barrie, Paul Dooley, Robyn Douglass, Hart Bochner
Music: Patrick Williams
Cinematography: Matthew F. Leonetti
Runtime: 101 min
Country: United States of America
Languages: English, Italian, French

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Breaking Away

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